Monroe Block Development

[hybridy]

Detroit feels this worse sooner and it will last longer evidenced by the longterm hemorrhaging population trend. Next recession is imminent and it’s gonna hurt real bad. I am glad I got out at high price and locked in a record low rate for mortgage. Time to batten down the hatches.

DG isn’t using conventional financing to build his projects. He’s using taxpayer’s dollars.

I doubt Monroe block happens in this economic cycle, of at all.

Hudson’s will flood market with unnecessary office space and hotel rooms, but it’s newness appeals. Ren Cen 2.0, if it even gets completed.

A recession is coming. Michigan's not ready.

[313WX]

A recession is coming. Michigan's not ready.

Careful, Worldsgreatest will come and wag his finger at you for not wearing your rose-colored glasses.

[Worldsgreatest]

A recession is coming. Michigan's not ready.

Conjecture, conjecture, conjecture. In the words of our dear president: SAD!

lmfao this is an opinion article, post some real data otherwise this has nothing to do with Monroe block. Also if you actually read, this piece paints a pretty rosy picture of what a recession would look like, again unlikely to come before 2020.

Excited for groundbreaking, beautiful development.

[Worldsgreatest]

You're making things up as hotel space in the city is severely lacking and desperately needed that's an easy way to fill the project, no flooding required. Office space at Hudson's is a small fraction of what's being proposed at Monroe block, more baseless conjecture. People have been warning about a big downturn since 2014, keep hoping though.

[hybridy]

You're making things up as hotel space in the city is severely lacking and desperately needed that's an easy way to fill the project, no flooding required. Office space at Hudson's is a small fraction of what's being proposed at Monroe block, more baseless conjecture. People have been warning about a big downturn since 2014, keep hoping though.

If a major conference can jump hotels in a few days notice without issue, this would indicate an excess of overall inventory. Ren cen marriott has 1k rooms and Westin would rather unfill rooms than lower rates to correspond with real demand. Only boutique projects are getting built...other metros have been flooded with flags/brands + boutiques.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...ac/1737321002/

[EGrant]

CityLab is not a major conference lol.

[hybridy]

CityLab is not a major conference lol.

ill grant you that, but filling 150-250 room block in the course of a few days between properties in the CBD doesn't say a whole lot.

[southen]

I know this is just more "baseless conjecture" but I do find it interesting that the newest Hudson renderings show a Monroe Blocks development that is no longer 100 feet taller than nearby Cadillac Center, but about the same height like in earlier renderings...

[Dexlin]

I do not think you can tell that from this rendering, and even in the case that one could, it's still a rendering for another building. Not everything in the background is always illustrated exactly to scale.

It's probably time to wait until we actually hear something than over-analyizing and speculating something we've been given no word on. What we know for now is what we were given months ago about this project; that's it. This kind of tea leave reading for this project is getting a bit ridiculous.

[Worldsgreatest]

If they scaled it down to what was originally proposed then you wouldn't even be able to see it from that point of view since it was just barely taller than OCM, if anything this proves the opposite, nothing has changed. I don't think Cadillac in that render is even at an accurate position/height/width [[Cadillac is way fatter than that), same thing happened with the Stott building in past renders. They don't put much effort in super accurate scaling of background buildings since it's not important.

[Dexlin]

Downtown Detroit is obviously not over hoteled. But I'm glad you know better than the professionals, apparently.

Give it a rest, already, hybridy.

[K-slice]

I agree with hybrid that an economic downtown is just around the corner and it will undoubtedly effect some of the projects we are looking forward to.

That being said, urban centers will still be "the place to be" no matter where the economy goes. Demand [[and thus rent) in places like downtown Detroit, RO, Brimingham, etc won't be as effected as suburban office parks in Novi, Southfield, and Troy.

[Atticus]

I agree with hybrid that an economic downtown is just around the corner and it will undoubtedly effect some of the projects we are looking forward to.

That being said, urban centers will still be "the place to be" no matter where the economy goes. Demand [[and thus rent) in places like downtown Detroit, RO, Brimingham, etc won't be as effected as suburban office parks in Novi, Southfield, and Troy.

I agree, and will also add that Detroit is woefully behind in the hotel offerings.

Ignore Chicago, and even just compare Detroit to Indy, Cleveland, Cincy, etc. If a coming recession spells gloom to the sparse amnount of Detroit hotels that will exist, I hate to image what is in store for our Midwestern bretheren in that regard.

[Dexlin]

FINALLY.

Groundbreaking for Monroe Blocks on track for December

The groundbreaking for the $830 million Monroe Blocks development in downtown Detroit is on track for December, according to Bedrock.

“Much like Hudson’s, it’s eerily close to the same timing a year ago,” said Joe Guziewicz, vice president of construction for Bedrock, on Thursday. “We’ll do a groundbreaking kick-off, and watch out. Work will start.”

Sounds like it won't just be a ceremonial groundbreaking either, but that real work will start pretty much right away, which is good given that they are a bit behind schedule.

[Gistok]

I am resigned to the fact that the National Theatre is doomed, except for the facade.

New location of the National arched facade with the street closed as a pedestrian zone...
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3329...7i16384!8i8192

But what I don't like is that the renderings show only the outer arch & towers as being saved.

Losing the inner arch [[around the window) with the decorative crown detail would be a travesty....

Since it will be just a pedestrian zone behind it... the arch doesn't have to be so wide, and both the inner and outer arches should be salvaged.

[EGrant]

I agree, it is a shame that we're going to lose so much of the theater.

I will say, the reuse of the arch is very cool; almost Parisian.



Hopefully they incorporate the parts of the inner arch into the new buildings somehow, even if it's just a decorative element of the lobby.

[Zads07]

The National Theater should be saved. It's the last remaining building on the block. It's the last theater built by Albert Kahn and the last remaining theater of the original theater district. It's also on the National Register of Historic Places. We should not just let this be a pass for Gilbert just because he has saved so many other historic buildings. This building has been sitting vacant, waiting revival for 25+ years and all of a sudden because it doesn't fit with Gilbert, we're ok with it being torn down?

[EGrant]

all of a sudden because it doesn't fit with Gilbert, we're ok with it being torn down?

Does anyone know the actual condition of the building? I'm not advocating for it's destruction if it can be saved, but based on these photos from 6 years ago, it was in rough shape then, and I doubt it's gotten better over the years.

[swingline]

Does anyone know the actual condition of the building? I'm not advocating for it's destruction if it can be saved, but based on these photos from 6 years ago, it was in rough shape then, and I doubt it's gotten better over the years.

The interior of the theater is just a shell. Almost zero architectural features remain. The diminutive lobby has a few features remaining but any reuse of the facility would have likely eliminated the existing lobby.

[Gistok]

In my earlier comment about saving both the inner and outer arch of the National Theatre facade... I just read up about the facade and towers. The white terra cotta and colored tiles are all Pewabic Pottery. So it would be blasphemy to destroy any part of the facade arches.

Also the small ticket lobby of the National Theatre is decorated in yellow Pewabic Pottery tiles. If the theatre meets the wrecking ball, these tiles should be salvaged as well.

Pewabic Pottery was founded in 1903... and this was a 1910 commission, so these are among the oldest Pewabic tiles.

Chuck Forbes salvaged the Pewabic tiles from the YWCA [[which was razed when Comerica Park was built), and reused them in the Gem/Century theatres.

[stasu1213]

I had thought that someone had purchase the National Theatre building a few years back and to renovate it. What had happened to that plan? I don't blame Gilbert if it get razed. I blame those whom had owned it in the past and just sat on it probably for some type of write-off while letting the building deteriorate more over the years. I would love to see a multiplex entertainment or something including in that spot. That would be ripe for a movie cinema as well

[Gistok]

I was part of the 2002 Preservation Wayne [[now Preservation Detroit) cleanup team. We removed all the fallen plasterwork from the main floor area [[several large dumpsters full), so that the city could make it marketable for developers.

The theatre [[abandoned in 1975) had already deteriorated decades before, and in the 1990s the city took it over. They put on a new roof, but by then the severe damage to the interior had already been done, and little further interior damage has taken place [[the plasterwork was mostly already gone).

In 2006 the exterior [[facade) qualified for Superbowl facade improvement grants, and was cleaned up.

I cannot remember when the developers took it over after that, but those developers just sat on it for years and years. It finally took litigation from the city to get the building back.

[1953]

I'd also like to see more of the National Theater saved -- and why are they closing Farmer? It seems pretty pedestrian friendly already in that area.

[K-slice]

Remember when Bedrock announced it would raise the Metropolitan building for a park? Well that didn't happen and it's now being restored! I still hold out hope that the National will be saved due to it's significance even if isn't a theater any more. With so much of the inside bare you could really put just about anything in there while preserving the detail that has survived.

This is great news that Bedrock is starting real work though! Ever since the first rendering every time I'm in CM I try and picture what it will be like with that giant parking lot replaced with tall buildings... Gives me goose bumps!

Now if someone could just buy and develop that giant cement lot just north of the old county building We'd really be in business East of Woodward.

[southen]

Now if someone could just buy and develop that giant cement lot just north of the old county building We'd really be in business East of Woodward.

The folks who restored the WCB own that lot presumably to use for parking for the structure. The interesting thing though is that Dan Gilbert owns just a tiny corner of it at Lafayette and Randolph. He doesn't make squat selling the spots, but it was a brilliant move to make sure that just about anything that happens on that site will involve him in some way.